Rod Rosenstein Jumps the Shark

Rod Rosenstein is doing a star turn as principled defender of the law, but he’s performed abysmally as deputy attorney general and President Donald Trump would be fully justified in firing him.

The leaked questions that special counsel Robert Mueller wants to ask Trump in a prospective deposition are, if accurate, a sign that Mueller has spun out of control on Rosenstein’s watch.

The questions suggest a free-floating investigation of the president’s motives, undertaken by a subordinate of the president. This is unlike any special-counsel investigation we’ve ever seen and represents a significant distortion of our system…

…This means Mueller is, in effect, the lead investigative counsel for a prospective House impeachment committee. It’s an important position, just not one that should be housed within the executive branch. Should they win the House in the fall, Nancy Pelosi and her fellow leaders would be fully within their rights to create an impeachment committee and hire a bevy of investigators.

Such a move would set up an appropriate clash between the executive and legislative branches, rather than the current perverse situation, which involves a part of the executive branch working very aggressively to cue up Nancy Pelosi on impeachment for next year.